


the worst first day

by dxringred



Category: Casualty (TV)
Genre: F/F, Fuck the BBC, a niche within a niche, canon sucks and that's the tea, this is only an au if you're a coward, this is the gay casualty i deserve
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-19
Updated: 2018-08-19
Packaged: 2019-06-29 19:00:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,287
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15735465
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dxringred/pseuds/dxringred
Summary: The outcome of Connie's disastrous attempt to impress her new boss.





	the worst first day

**Author's Note:**

> this is based on the first gif from my "gay casualty au" set where connie and elle basically just swap places and connie's a huge lesbian because i do what i want.

It wasn't as though this was the first time Connie had been in trouble. She'd overstepped the mark plenty of times in the past; said things she shouldn't have, disobeyed an order, misjudged something. But this was the first time she'd been _nervous_ about being in trouble. In fact, it was the first time she'd been nervous about anything in years. After all, it wasn't a feeling that came naturally to her. She was too used to getting her own way, talented at talking herself out of virtually anything, and she made very few mistakes to begin with, of course.

But today, she _had_ made a mistake -- well, more aptly put, she'd lost control which was a marginally more common occurrence -- and she already knew it was one she wasn't going to be able to talk herself out of, even with her good looks and charm. No, Elle seemed like the kind of woman who would be more forgiving (albeit only slightly) if she apologized and acknowledged her error. Normally, Connie would rather argue and risk losing her job than even begin to consider doing either of those things. On this occasion, however, she was more than willing to do both. And it had everything to do with how attractive her new boss was.

Connie knocked twice on the office door, waiting until she was given permission to enter before she somewhat reluctantly went inside, not daring to venture more than a few feet from the door. Elle was sat behind her desk, scribbling away in a file, and when she didn't say anything at her arrival, Connie decided it was up to her to make the first move.

"I'm so sorry about what happened today, Mrs. Gardner," she said, briefly glancing down at the floor in embarrassment (that was a new feeling too, what had gotten into her?) when Elle finally looked up at her. "I shouldn't have let things get so out of control."

"But you did," Elle said, twirling her pen between her fingers as she curiously admired Connie's figure. She was a brilliant doctor -- the best, some might say; it was why Elle had offered her the job without even meeting her -- and more than easy on the eyes. But that only made watching her look so uncomfortable all the more satisfying.

Connie sighed, pressing her lips together. "I know," she admitted, hoping that nobody would walk by right then and hear her. "I was cocky and I took on too much at once. But I can't change what happened." She paused, forcing herself to meet Elle's steely gaze. "I can, however, make sure that it doesn't happen again." 

Elle stared at Connie in silence, waiting for her to avert her gaze but quickly realizing that she wasn't going to. Unlike the rest of Elle's staff, Connie apparently didn't have an issue with looking her in the eye. It was a refreshing change, and Elle was almost impressed. It seemed as though Connie might prove to be a challenge, and there were few things she loved more than one of those. "It better not," she said, turning her attention back to her paperwork. "But, just so you know where you stand, I'm putting you on minors for the next three days." 

She expected some kind of outburst in response -- even the doctors who were terrified of her couldn't help groaning in frustration and Connie hardly struck her as someone who would quietly settle for the punishment she was being dealt. But less than a second later, Connie surprised her by doing exactly that. "That's more than reasonable," she said, nodding in agreement. She'd been bracing herself for far worse than three days of being relegated to treating minor injuries, and couldn't help feeling relieved that she wasn't being disciplined as harshly as she'd anticipated. "I'll let you get back to your paperwork now." She turned to leave, planning to track down Jacob so she could tell him the good news.

"Oh, and Dr. Chase?"

Connie paused in the doorway, looking back just as Elle glanced up from her file, a faint hint of smug amusement in her eyes. "A word of advice: next time you want to impress me, try to avoid letting the entire department devolve into complete chaos. Not even an F1 would have done so disastrously today." Connie had never felt so mortified in her life and by the time she managed to find the wherewithal to leave, Elle had already started writing again and was paying her no attention. 

She hid behind her hair as she made a beeline for her office, willing the red to hurry up and drain from her face. It was only her first day, and she refused to let her reputation of being so formidable and infallible be tarnished _that_ quickly by rumors of her humiliation on top of everything else. Luckily, said reputation was still intact enough to keep her colleagues at bay and she made it to her office without anyone catching sight of her vibrant blush. On a more unfortunate note, however, Jacob was waiting for her when she arrived.

"Woah, snowflake, you're redder than a chili pepper," he said, not even bothering to hide his amusement as he watched Connie fall into her chair and immediately disappear behind her arms. "What happened?"

"Mrs. Gardner just filleted me like a catfish," Connie mumbled into her desk. "She knows I fucked up because I was trying to impress her." 

"I still don't even get _why_ you were trying to impress her," Jacob admitted. "Usually you couldn't care less about what people think of you." 

"I know, but..." Connie sighed, shaking the thought away as she sat up. "It doesn't matter. I won't exactly be doing it again in a hurry." _Probably_ , she thought. If Elle told her to jump, she couldn't say for certain that she wouldn't hesitate to ask how high. 

"I hope not," Jacob said, getting to his feet. "I don't want to end up walking into another wall because you lost control so badly that someone managed to set a bunch of smoke bombs off in RESUS." Connie groaned, slumping over her desk again. She wanted nothing more than to be able to redo her entire day (or erase it completely), because if there was an award for having the worst first day ever, it would almost definitely have her name on it. "Hey, cheer up, snowflake." Jacob leaned against the edge of her desk, giving her a pat on the shoulder that was supposed to be reassuring but did nothing to make Connie feel better. "You know what you need? A drink." 

That certainly caught Connie's attention. "Are you buying?" she asked quietly, resting her head on her arm as she looked over at Jacob.

"If I say yes, will you stop looking like you're going to cry? It's really freaking me out," Jacob said, tactless as ever. After a moment of silence, Connie slowly nodded. "Then yes, I'm buying."

"In that case, I suppose a few glasses of wine couldn't hurt," Connie conceded, rising to her feet and releasing her leather jacket from the back of her chair. She couldn't turn down free drinks, especially when Jacob was the one paying for them, and maybe the day's events would hurt a little less in hindsight if she wasn't completely sober.

"That's more like it," Jacob said, grinning triumphantly as Connie freed her hair from the collar of her jacket and grabbed her bag. "You just need to stop worrying and relax a bit. So forget about what happened today, and forget about Mrs. Gardner." The only problem, was that Connie didn't think she could forget about her.


End file.
